Four years ago a lot of people fell in love with Barack Obama. To them he wasn’t just a candidate or even the best candidate, he was a once-in-a-lifetime inspirational leader who they expected to bring momentous change. No one could have lived up to the expectations they had for him. Obama has failed miserably.
I have no illusions about Mitt Romney. I know he is a moderately conservative Republican. He is not a secret liberal. But I did not vote for ideology this year, I voted for character and competence. I believe that Mitt Romney has plenty of both.
I know that Mitt Romney doesn’t have any superpowers. But we don’t need a hero, we need someone who can get shit done. We have a lot of problems facing this country. I don’t expect miracles, I expect progress. I don’t expect to agree with everything he does but I am willing to give him four years to show us what he can do. At the end of four years I will decide whether to keep him around for another term or replace his ass too.
I believe that Mitt Romney is a good man. I hope he is up to the job. In a few hours we’ll see if the country agrees with me.
The Crawdad Hole 
I guess I should add: I started out planning to vote ABO, but Mitt Romney convinced me to vote FOR him instead of just voting AGAINST Obama
Yes … Mitt has really surprised me. He seems like a truly decent, caring person. And that’s the last thing I expect from a politician.
Plus, I remember thinking “he’s sooooo boring … a total robot.” I just believed all the bad press. I was wrong.
Really hope the better person wins today. Now … where the hell are the results??? I can’t wait any longer!!! C’mon, east coast! Your polls close in a couple hours.
There was never an “oh wow” moment when I changed my mind about Mitt. I went from thinking he was the lesser evil to thinking he wasn’t so bad to liking him over a period of months.
Believe me, I considered all the negative stuff they said about him before I made up my mind.
I’m the same way. He grew on me slowly. But the Denver debate was definitely an eye opener. He was on fire and even though I expected him to do well … he really made me sit up and take notice then.
I completely agree , and I really like the idea that the longer you are acquainted and familiar with someone , the more acceptable and even appealing they become as a candidate ; which of course is the complete and utter opposite of Obarfo , who becomes more repugnant every moment , even when you think that is not possible .
I credit Lola with making me look at him with new eyes. Thanks Lola!
Agree, Lola rawks. And Kevin Dujan who turned a “cucumber and cream cheese sandwich” into a viable leader. Mitt passed more “tests” than he realized. Then came myiq. Would have never stumbled upon TCH if I didn’t watch him get thrown off RD for defending Sarah. Love you all !
I started ABO as well. And for months I thought Mitt Romney was Obama’s twin. TPTB moving the primaries up, which shut out Sarah and anyone try to run against Obama, reinforced that thought.
So I was leery about him and was considering the third party vote because of the federal funding rules of needing 5% in the previous election. But Romney also convinced me to vote for him.
I remember the relief when he saved the Olympics and America from embarrassment. I am voting for that competent man. One who understands how govt, business, and the voters all fit together and wants success for people. That’s it. I don’t expect anything but competence and less lies.
It was bizarre watching a clip about Obama complain about people in poverty and his work isn’t done if they are still poor. As if his policies such as Obamacare had no bearing on that, or that the resulting part-time jobs wouldn’t keep them there. Or that his plan to kill coal wouldn’t hurt poor families more, etc, etc. Obama just doesn’t care how it all fits together, or worse, he does, and it’s intentional. Like that NV op-ed stated.
http://www.lvrj.com/opinion/benghazi-blunder-obama-unworthy-commander-in-chief-176736441.html
I said the same thing to a long-time Republican friends the other day. Actually felt good, but I have NO illusions he is anything but a man. We DON’T need another “God-like” President. This IS still America – not Ancient Rome.
Ohpleaseohpleaseohplease!
I swear when I saw Ohpleaseohpleaseohplease! I thought I was reading votermom.
And I had a similar experience re learning to like Romney. It was surely enhanced by Lola’s exuberance. I really want the best man – this good man – to win and to do well.
leslie, on November 6, 2012 at 3:03 pm said:
I swear when I saw Ohpleaseohpleaseohplease! I thought I was reading votermom.
HONK!!!!! LOL~
I said four years ago that I hoped I was wrong about Obama and I wanted him to do well – because he was going to be the only POTUS we had and if he did well so did the country.
I hate being right all the time.
HONK!
Heh. I’m rubbing off on the klown.
It’s not just the expectations that people placed on him. It was the way he framed himself. Now whether O did, as he once said, believe his own BS, or whether he knowingly misled people, at the end of the day — he was revealed to be a liar and a fraud, the greatest flimflam man in the history of US politics (I think, anyhow).
I think you’re spot on re: Romney. But I don’t think he’s in the least self deluded. This is a man possessed of a quiet confidence born of a track record he knows is true, and can be proud of. Perfect? No. But it’s a track record of achievement which overshadows O’s to a monumental extent. Which is why his campaign was so relentlessly dishonest and negative.
Once the dust settles I hope many lessons are learned from the past 4years. And I hope that the people who know true things about O speak out, at last. Because otherwise the US will fall victim to another flimflam man, at some point.
Sooner or later, they will. And when it happens it will the the smarter-than-everyone-else crowd that falls the hardest.
You know what? I should’ve known better than to even think it. Because you’re absolutely right. Humanity as a long term proposition never learns from the past. Do you think it’s hard wired into our genes? Despite all the evidence to the contrary about what a bad idea idea X is, we go for it again, thinking … no, no, it’ll be different this time, this time it will work!
Sigh.
And as you say, it’s the self-appointed intellectual superiors among us who fall first and fall hardest, and who do their best to destroy anyone who dares challenge their superiority. They make me nauseous.
GOOD! We really should not let children decide who gets to be leader of the free world. Evidence- 2008.
Calls I’ve received today:
Ann Romney called me three times!! We’re pretty tight now! 😀
Random former NFL player for Romney called me. No idea of his name. Just hung up on the robo call.
Tom Smith’s (R for Senate in PA) daughter called me.
RNC volunteer (a real live person) called me from Pittsburgh. She was lovely and very happy with the way I voted today.
What’s all this about the superior Dem GOTV effort? Not that I want them to call. Just saying …
It occurred to me a couple of weeks ago and again today- what a good decision it was to get rid of the landline lol.
The ladies in line today were all talking about the robocalls.
Heh- I did not get any!
I’m in an ultra heavy D area. I’ve received R calls and not a single D call. I have no idea why though.
A point I have tried to make, subtley, on His44. I think a lot of people are falling in love with Romney, but in the end, he is a politician. PUT BLIND FAITH IN NO MAN.
Or no woman either. Ya gotta keep an eye on all of ’em.
Nobody gets a pedestal . No one . My father taught me that . He said , don’t let anyone pull the wool over your eyes , they all put their pants on one leg at a time .
You only put them on a pedestal after they are dead. And only if the deserve it.
ok, only if they are dead !LOL for some reason that cracked me up !!
Dead or about to be – putting them on a pedestal to hang them is okay too.
“Any last words, governor?”
This is very true, although I want to see equal representation for women, it turns out women are corrupt just as often as men..
At least women politicians generally manage to keep their pants on.
Not where I live. It’s equal opportunity skeeviness here! See? We really are a less sexist society here. *;*
Well, I don’t trust no one but I trust the POS less than anyone I know and I will be thrilled to have Mitt and Anne in the WH.
That’s when you know you’re going to win
MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Mitt Romney walked out of his campaign jet at Pittsburgh International Airport here Tuesday afternoon and was met by an unexpected sight: hundreds upon hundreds of supporters packed into the top and middle levels of a nearby parking garage, cheering the candidate’s arrival.
That’s when you know you’re going to win.
A visibly moved Romney, clad in a white shirt and slacks, stepped into the late afternoon sun and walked across the tarmac to a spot near a metal fence separating him from the supporters in the garage.
Press entourage in tow, he waved to the crowd for several moments, saying nothing.
Afterward, a reporter asked Romney how the moment made him feel.
“That’s when you know you’re gonna win,” he said as he walked back across the tarmac and into an SUV that carried him off to his second stop of the day.
Check the pic.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/election-2012/wp/2012/11/06/mitt-romney-moved-by-surprise-show-of-support/?wprss=rss_politics
The tragedy in all of this is that slowly but surely we’ve so eroded — or allowed to erode — the integrity and purpose of government that when a genuinely decent person comes along, it’s almost impossible to believe they could be genuine. We’ve been lied to and bamboozled and flimflammed so many times. Or let ourselves be. But I think we let ourselves be because at heart we are so desperate to be right, to believe it is possible for decent people to do good work for the greater benefit of the community. I think there’s a special circle in hell reserved for those men and women who would wilfully destroy that innate desire for decency and good in the common weal.
This is one of the truest political statements ever:
Makes me think of Romney in the primary race.
It’s supposed to be the Big Dawg.
Great post, myiq. And yeah, Mitt would not have been my choice. But the more I see of him, the more I see a man who, whatever his ideology, has been focused, competent, hardworking as hell, successful and accomplished, and a really decent human being his whole life. He’s a throwback, but in a good way. The neighbor with the tidy garage who always has the tool you need, and pulls his trash bins in on time. AND hoses them out regularly.
Not the guy you want to party with. A bit of a stiff dork. But really nice when you get to know him, and utterly reliable and unflappable.
He’s the kinda guy that when you ask to borrow some tools he brings them over and helps you fix whatever is broke.
He is not the shouter from the rooftops , but the quiet force of perseverance ;not the fat queen bee fed by others , he is the worker bee that gets the hive built , so all the bees can live .
Oh god, that’s me. I’m such a dork.
i wish you were my neighbor , instead of the asshole who does live next door to me .
It’s amazing what happens when we’re able to look at a person for ourselves, without the filtering of others. In both cases, R and O have been gobsmackingly filtered by the media. And in both cases, once we got the chance to see for ourselves, we could see we’d been lied to, comprehensively and catastrophically. And as a result, lordy how the landscape has changed.
But here’s the thing. He wasn’t your choice to start with because what you were seeing was a fabrication of the corrupt media. Yes? And now that you’ve had the chance to see him more truthfully, his good qualities are more apparent.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m right up there with the no pedestals for politicians crowd. But given the givens, I’m prepared to believe that R is a decent human being. Not perfect, but decent, and truthful, who will do his best. He won’t succeed at everything but he’ll do his best with an honest heart.
Yes. I have learned to research it all. I don’t believe the media on anything anymore.
And if that’s not sad …
Great post. At the beginning (5/31/08) I too was ABO. Then I went through the whole three year long primary- and watched the R’s fall in lust with first one and then another (I was REALLY worried they would pick sanitarypad- phew!) I did not care for Romney- having seen what a disaster Romneycare has been in MA. But I adjusted. And came to realize- DUH ME- what really could he do with a D legislature and the citizens of MA for the most part wanting it.
Then there was the first debate.
Then PA all of a sudden went from being solid O to maybe oh maybe we might be the ones who tip the scale and send that Lying Sack of Crap back under the rock he slithered out from-
and there you have it
What else could I do? Romney has worked hard all his life, helped others, given to charity. He has turned some businesses around and some he didn’t- but you can’t win them all. All in all, he seems to be a decent sincere man- who works his ass off at everything he takes on.
So be it.
I’ll give him a chance. And if he screws up- well hopefully the media will come back to life and the Dems will start acting like Dems again.
I totally get what you’re saying. But my fear is that that the media will not do anything different — they’ll just keep lying and spinning and obfuscating and distorting the truth, but this time to destroy the incumbent, not to protect him. These so called journalists have, almost to the last writer, perjured their souls. I don’t see how they can reclaim them.
I would rather see the media trying to take a POTUS down than the current lapdogs.
Don’t forget, the media spent years trying to destroy Bill and Hillary. That worked out okay.
Well, because I’m just so naive, I’d rather see the media accurately reflect the truth of any given situation. Sigh. But on balance, I guess you’re right.
I don’t want the media to protect ANY POTUS. In a perfect world, yadda yadda yadda, but we don’t live in a perfect world. That’s why I would settle for a uniformly hostile media.
I am finished with the Corporate Media for the most part. I don’t trust them to suddenly get the story or the facts just because a Republican is in office. They ignore stories with Obama in office and they would make up stories from random garbage just because a Republican is in office. I don’t think my respect for media can be revived.
Which is a tragedy of epic proportions for your country – and mine. Because we’re in exactly the same boat. And why? The Left is a rabid animal off its leash.
Local news reporting turnout in Erie over 50% already- that is bot country for the most part.
I totally agree. I am under no illusions with Romney either, but at least he’s a decent man with some intelligence and integrity. Have any Obots though about four more years with no election hanging over this man’s head. Think it’s bad now!!!! God, I hope Romney landslides his arse.
My county, very dark blue, we vote by mail, is reporting 66% turnout. Turnout in 2008? 98%. There are a whole lot of discouraged Obama supporters living here.
Invited to go to the National Press Club for the election party this evening. Hell no I’m not going up to DC. Neat though.
Somewhere in my archives* I have an invitation to one of Bill Clinton’s inaugural parties in 1993.
I didn’t go cuz they forgot to send a plane ticket with it.
(*aka “boxes of crap in my garage)
That is neat. I don’t blame you about avoiding DC on this night. But the close up view of a Romney win would have been sweet. 😉
Im in Boston. Headed to the party as soon as I’m confident he’s won!
You better bring back pics or we won’t believe you!
I will email them to you.
Very cool! Can’t wait for the pics and the in-the-room report. Have fun! 🙂
David Frum says:
‘The United States is an exceptional nation, but it is not always exceptional for good. The American voting system too is an exception: It is the most error-prone, the most susceptible to fraud, the most vulnerable to unfairness and one of the least technologically sophisticated on earth. After the 2000 fiasco, Americans resolved to do better. Isn’t it past time to make good on that resolution?’
To me, the idea of Black Panthers threatening people, of wholesale illegal bussing, of the BS that goes in in your elections, it’s preposterous. Once this is all done and dusted, I think there needs to be a groundswell from the folks, demanding a complete, federal overhaul of voting methods and rules, including uniform voter ID. I don’t believe this is a states’ rights matter. This is a crisis for the entire country, and should be dealt with in a one rule for all way.
No system is perfect, but it seems to me yours is totally screwed. And it needs some major housekeeping.
HONK!
And I vote we start by eliminating damn caucuses! Term Limits. Voter ID. Wrest control of the primaries from the two major parties.
Oh yes, we have lotsa work to do!
Also? The way the military vote is trashed needs to be fixed. So much fraud/BS pulled on those guys. Deliberate voter disenfranchisement. That needs to be fixed too. Trouble is, everywhere you look in the US there’s a spot fire burning …
Just starting the torture early:
Breaking on Drudge: “EXITS: Obama has 190 electoral votes and Romney has 191 locked…”
I know, I know … exit polls are crap. I just want some news … any news.
It could just be me, but I find the Ace of Spades site sexist. However, having said that: http://minx.cc/?post=334706
So I’d take advice from HillBuzz, stay away from the fear porn purveyors. They have an agenda, and it’s not in our best interests.
Barack Obama is the MSNBC myth.
Gulianni goes off on the turd.
If I was POTUS (as if) FEMA would be a cross between the National Guard and the Peace Corps.
They would be a paramilitary non-combatant corps that would train for mobilizing on short notice and going into disaster areas to rescue people and set up temporary shelters, dining facilities and hospitals. They might even do some police/security stuff – but no combat.
They would be trained to work closely with the military, and they would wear uniforms and be organized like military units.
It would be another way for young people to earn college assistance without having to fight wars.
Excellent idea. You should drop R a line and suggest it. Seriously.
They could also be used overseas, like after the Haiti earthquake.
This is why I like coming here Klown. You always have a reasonable response.
Flattery will get you no where.
(But don’t stop trying)
Not flattery, just acknowledging that there are people who still have common sense. 😀
If sense was so common more people would have it.
The ALMOST were – under WJC when he made FEMA a cabinet position with James Lee Witt at the helm – which GWB promptly scrapped.
Absofuckinglutely !!
Well darn. Guess I didn’t win the night in Boston with Mitt, Ann, Paul and Janna tonight. Would have had my tickies by now? /sarc
Good luck, fair winds and following seas all !
Am I the only one who fantasizes that maybe the movie Dave could come true, even if it’s only a little bit?
You are not alone… I love DAVE. It has been my dream for a Preezy just like him. “At least a little”
LOL, you can have illusions, myiq, it’s the delusions that we worry about!
One night me and some friends were partying and one of them was kinda staring into space. Then he asked me “Are there clouds of gnats in here?”
“Uh, no Lonnie, there aren’t any gnats in here.”
“Okay” he said as he kept staring off into space.
Damned floaters
My television is turned off. I’m not even watching reruns of Two and a Half Men.
My tv’s on mute 😉
Whatev the outcome tonight, we have lovely, hot tea.
Perhaps I am naive, but another thing about Romney – he is so damn rich I don’t think he is AS beholden to the special interests. Last time he completely self-financed (IIRC) –
And even if he is “bought and paid for” I think he DOES have a moral compass. Unlike the current Office Place Holder.
I know, i know – he’s probably as deep in as any pol at his level – but I HAVE to have hope. The last 12 years have been hell. And at my age, that is starting to get significant.
Dan Rather thinks it’s gonna be a good for Romney.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1112/83402.html#ixzz2BTo7p9T0
Ok can’t take it anymore! Cocktail time. If things go the way I hope- there is a bottle of Glen Livet over across the room in the liquor cabinet that has been waiting for an occasion.
For now, a nice glass of eggnog with some rum.
YUM! Scotch and Rum! You’re gonna be talking to the chickens in the morning.
Well. I thought about rolling all the pennies to try and come up with enough to buy some Boone’s Farm- but what the hell- that Glen Livet has been over in that cabinet a long time. lol
Some results starting to trickle in:
http://www.politico.com/2012-election/map/#/President/2012/
I’m also reading Hillbuzz as Kevin DuJan really calms me down and makes me laugh.
Gotta crack open a bottle of wine soon.
You are falling behind, but we will be falling on our behinds before you.
I know … should’ve started a couple hours ago. 🙂
According to The Oregonian, “So far, Oregon Republicans turn out in higher percentages.”
I’m gonna be leaving you all (probably) in a bit to go watch cable at my neighbor’s house. I can get all content streaming, but it really slows down when I have to go from network to network AND tweet and comment and and and….drink!
But as I am going to be with a friend who has to work in the morning, I’ll be back later for the REAL fun!
But then again, she may change her mind and I’ll just stay here.
Listening to Fox, my stomach is in knots.
Mine too.
hi everyone, i am the same as freedom above, no cable news on my tv, we just have basic channels. so i have foxnews.com online and it is updating the electoral college live. that’s all i need, plus listening to laura ingraham…
I should have bought more wine . I could have mixed it with my cherry limeade
cmon florida and virginia, i just have to say… come on for mitt…
starting with the wild turkey 101 right now, stat 🙂